Each of these knockouts was special in its own right, and all of
them received consideration in this year’s voting. Nevertheless,
the competitive hearts and minds of the Sherdog.com editorial staff
eventually settled on Chris
Weidman’s stunning stoppage of Anderson
Silva at UFC 162 as the “Knockout of the Year” for 2013.

How can one sum up Silva’s career? To say “The Spider” is one of
the greatest fighters in the history of the sport would be
redundant at this point, thanks to the
Ultimate Fighting Championship public relations machine
spinning at full steam for the past several years. Even so, Silva’s
list of accomplishments speaks for itself.

Silva began his professional career back in 1997 and then won
Shooto’s
middleweight title from the previously unbeaten Hayato
Sakurai in 2001 before joining
Pride Fighting Championships. There, Silva recorded one of the
most famous knockouts in MMA history at the expense of Carlos Newton,
but he also submitted to a Daijiro Takase triangle choke and a
Ryo
Chonan heel hook -- the second finish famously becoming the
gold standard in Hail Mary submissions.

“The Spider” truly hit his stride in 2006, turning out Tony
Fryklund’s lights with a cinematic standing reverse elbow that
looked like something out of “Ong Bak.” Silva then vacated his Cage
Rage title and joined the UFC, where he went on a rampage like no
one ever had before.

Silva demolished Chris Leben
in his Octagon debut and then ripped the middleweight title away
from Rich
Franklin. Many challenged the lanky southpaw over the next six
years, but each was crushed in one way or another. The Brazilian
defended his belt against the likes of Nate
Marquardt, Demian Maia,
Chael
Sonnen and Dan
Henderson, with the latter defense unifying the UFC and Pride
championships. Silva was so dominant at 185 pounds that he
occasionally jumped to light heavyweight, wrecking James Irvin,
Forrest
Griffin and Stephan
Bonnar inside the first round. In all, Silva posted 16
consecutive Octagon wins, defending his middleweight belt a record
10 times and earning seven “Knockout of the Night” awards along the
way.

Put plainly, Silva pieced together the most decorated title run in
the history of the modern UFC, but that unrivaled streak of
excellence would come to an end over the summer thanks to a
particularly polished young gun from New York.

With just nine fights under his belt heading into his title bid,
Weidman was viewed by some as a tenuous bet ahead of UFC 162.
Others felt he should be the favorite, given his excellent
wrestling base, his imposing physical strength and his
ever-improving standup. The 29-year-old’s well-roundedness had
powered him to a vicious knockout of Mark Munoz,
as well as a slick submission of Tom Lawlor
and a unanimous decision victory over jiu-jitsu master Demian
Maia.

Weidman’s blueprint to victory appeared to have been laid out for
him by Sonnen, who was able to put Silva on his back and punish him
with ground-and-pound for the majority of the 30 minutes the men
spent together over two fights. If the former Hofstra University
wrestling standout could avoid succumbing to Silva’s
well-documented mind games in the cage, his physical tools were
expected to at least put him in the running to dethrone the
longtime champion.

When fight night finally came, fans were thrown on an emotional
rollercoaster for more than six minutes of action, with the
shocking end coming a little more than one minute into the second
frame.

As usual, the champion took his time approaching the Octagon. Once
inside the cage, the men squared off in front of referee Herb Dean, who
commanded them to touch gloves before trying to rip each other’s
heads off. Weidman obediently extended his right mitt. Silva, his
hands casually on his hips, glanced suspiciously at the gesture
like it was an animal he was encountering for the first time. One
of Silva’s trademark abbreviated bows would follow, which,
naturally, made everyone other than the champion a little
uncomfortable.

“Or not…” Dean said awkwardly, when it became clear that Silva was
far more interested in touching Weidman’s face than his fists.

Weidman, who saw his Long Island, N.Y., neighborhood ravaged by
Hurricane Sandy the previous October, entered the cage as a 2-to-1
underdog. Nevertheless, the challenger pressed the action early as
though he were the favorite, attempting to put Silva on his heels.
Silva, meanwhile, bounced around in typical, cat-like fashion,
looking to gauge distance and rhythm before dialing in his
crosshairs.

After 30 seconds of pawing, the American quickly shot in deep on a
double-leg, placing his head between Silva’s legs and planting him
on his back. Weidman fired off two solid right hands and dived into
the champion’s guard, but Silva tied up his opponent and remained
calm. This did little to slow down his younger opponent, however,
as Weidman passed to half guard and continued to fire stiff shot’s
at Silva’s mug. “The Spider” managed to recover open guard, but
Weidman used the position to land several more clean blows before
inexplicably spinning for a kneebar. The Shamrock-esque attempt
look good from the onset, but the champion slyly adjusted his hips,
forcing Weidman to switch to a heel hook, which Silva promptly
proceed to roll out of and then pop back to his feet.

With half a round now gone, the crowd erupted as the champion stood
and dropped his hands, leaning forward and staring directly into
Weidman’s eyes. This is where the fight changed, as Silva
telepathically challenged Weidman to play the Russian roulette game
from “Deer Hunter.” Putting his back on the cage -- as he had
against Bonnar the previous October -- Silva did his best
rope-a-dope impression, giving Weidman free rein to fire off
punches as he saw fit. Weidman obliged, but the blows had no
effect. Silva placed his hands on his hips and ate a hard right
hand, which caused him to chuckle gleefully and motion for Weidman
to try again. The Brazilian ripped off a pair of hard leg kicks and
moved back into punching range, continuing to taunt his man as the
pro-champion crowd chanted “Sil-va! Sil-va!”

As the round expired, the men slapped hands and smiled, though
Silva also playfully slapped the side of Weidman’s face and kissed
him on the cheek as if to say, “You’re doing really well for your
first time.” Silva would then suddenly scream at his challenger
from across the cage, apparently imploring him to put up a better
fight.

Between rounds, Silva’s corner told him to calm down. Weidman’s
trainer, Ray Longo, was more specific with his advice.

It only grew stranger from there, as Silva continued to express his
desire to put on a thrilling show for the packed crowd at the MGM
Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas by throwing his hands up and
motioning toward the raucous horde. The champion then began to
shimmy and shake, dancing around his opponent and circling to his
lead hand side in another likely homage to Muhammad Ali.

Like most watching outside the cage, Weidman appeared unsure of
what Silva might do next, prompting the challenger to shoot for a
takedown. Silva easily stuffed the attempt and once again began to
jaw at his opponent, firing off another pair of low kicks and then
launching a lead-leg outside crescent kick, of all things, that
narrowly missed Weiman’s face.

To his credit, Weidman managed to keep his focus through all of
this and continued to move forward. It was then that Silva’s
control over both the bout and the title vaporized in an instant.
Silva later referred to it as Weidman’s “magic moment.” The
challenger caught the champ with a crisp left hook, which motivated
Silva to feign that he was hurt. Weidman wasted no time in
following up, launching a one-two that Silva dodged. It was then
that the champion’s footwork failed him, as Weidman flicked out his
right hand as a range-finder and then loaded up on a concussive
left hook that instantly turned out Silva’s lights.

Off balance, out of position and with his hands by his knees, Silva
fell limp to the canvas as his eyes rolled back in their sockets.
Weidman jumped in for the kill and left nothing to chance, landing
two more clean shots that caused the former champion’s skull to
yo-yo off the floor. With a single combination, Weidman had
completely altered the long-stagnant UFC middleweight division.

Though Silva diehards immediately jumped to their fallen hero’s
defense, Weidman proved the victory was no fluke in their Dec. 28
rematch, as he knocked down the former champion with a hard shot to
the temple before shattering his left shin bone while checking one
of the low kicks which had been so effective for Silva in their
first encounter.

While such an injury should never be cause for celebration from
either fan or fighter -- especially when the victim is a man the
caliber of Silva -- the results are difficult to argue against.
Weidman’s history-making stoppage of Silva may not have been the
flashiest knockout of the last 12 months, but it was undoubtedly
the most important, earning it Sherdog’s vote as “Knockout of the
Year” for 2013.